9 July 2024

• Governance: Rajasthan became the first Indian state to adopt a 10-year Road Safety Action Plan targeting a 50 per cent reduction in accidents by 2030.
• Environment: UNESCO added 11 new Biosphere Reserves to the World Network. India has 18 biosphere reserves of which 12 are in the World Network.
• Climate: Over 160 wildfires burned 460,000 hectares in Russia's Sakha republic. Arctic regions are warming at four times the global average.
• Technology: The UN designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

GS area: Governance, Disaster Management

Rajasthan became the first state in India to adopt a comprehensive 10-year Road Safety Action Plan, with assistance from the World Bank.

• Target: Reduce road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2030 in alignment with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
• India's road safety problem: WHO estimates approximately 300,000 deaths annually on Indian roads. The economic cost is 5 to 7 per cent of national GDP. Over-speeding accounts for 72 per cent of accidents. About 83 per cent of car fatalities in 2021 involved unbelted occupants.
• Key interventions in the plan:
  • Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) for data-driven interventions.
  • Speed limit enforcement and installation of speed management barriers.
  • Mandatory seatbelt and helmet use enforcement.
  • Better road design to eliminate black spots.
  • Vehicle inspection compliance.
• Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019: Significantly increased penalties for traffic violations. Introduced hit-and-run compensation. Mandated safety certifications for vehicles.

Static linkage: Road safety (Governance), Motor Vehicles Act.

GS area: Environment and Ecology, Geography

UNESCO added 11 new sites to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves at its 2024 meeting, bringing the global total to 759 reserves across 136 countries, including two transboundary sites.

• India's total: 18 biosphere reserves designated by the government. Twelve are in the UNESCO World Network.
• First Indian biosphere reserve: Nilgiri (1986). The latest addition: Panna (Madhya Pradesh).
• Three-zone structure of biosphere reserves:
  • Core zone: Strictly protected. No human settlement allowed.
  • Buffer zone: Research, education, and limited tourism permitted.
  • Transition zone (cooperation zone): Human settlements and sustainable economic activities co-exist with conservation.
• Functions: In-situ conservation of biodiversity, research on ecosystem dynamics, monitoring of environmental change, demonstration of sustainable development.
• Not National Parks: Biosphere reserves are not synonymous with National Parks. A biosphere reserve typically contains a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary in its core zone but extends beyond these protected areas.

Static linkage: Conservation areas (Environment), UNESCO conventions.

GS area: Environment, Geography

Over 160 wildfires burned through Russia's Sakha Republic in summer 2024, consuming approximately 460,000 hectares of boreal forest and tundra.

• Arctic warming rate: The Arctic is warming at four times the global average rate. Temperature has risen approximately 3 degrees Celsius since 1980.
• Why warming triggers fires: Higher temperatures dry out vegetation. Permafrost thaw releases ancient organic carbon. Extended fire seasons now reach regions previously too wet to burn.
• Lightning factor: Lightning strikes in Alaska and Canada's Northwest Territories doubled between 1975 and 2024. More lightning over warming Arctic forests means more ignition events.
• Polar vortex disruption: Arctic warming destabilises the polar jet stream. The jet stream slows and meanders, trapping heat domes over land areas for longer periods.
• Carbon feedback: Arctic soils store vast quantities of organic carbon. When they burn, CO2 and methane are released, accelerating warming in a positive feedback loop.
• Kessler Syndrome (different context): Do not confuse the cascade principle in orbital debris with the carbon feedback cascade in Arctic warming, though both illustrate the danger of crossing tipping points.

Static linkage: Climate change (Environment), polar geography.

GS area: Polity

The expunction power allows the presiding officer of a legislative house to delete remarks from the official record that are defamatory, indecent, or unparliamentary.

• Rajya Sabha: Rule 261 governs expunction.
• Lok Sabha: Rule 380 governs expunction.
• Who decides: The Speaker (Lok Sabha) or the Chairman (Rajya Sabha) decides which remarks are expunged. The decision is not subject to a vote.
• Digital age challenge: Expunged remarks are still captured in live broadcasts and social media posts. The practical effect of expunction is diminished in the age of instant recording.
• Constitutional basis: The power flows from the broader powers of Parliament to regulate its own proceedings under Articles 105 and 118.

Static linkage: Parliamentary procedures (Polity), Parliament.

GS area: Governance, Science and Technology

The draft Telecommunications Act 2023 renamed and reconstituted the Universal Service Obligation Fund as Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN).

• Funding source: 5 per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) collected from telecom operators. AGR is the revenue earned from telecom services after deducting certain non-telecom revenues.
• Purpose: Expand telecom networks in rural, remote, and underserved areas. Fund R&D and pilot projects for next-generation connectivity.
• USOF background: Created in 2002 to fund telecom infrastructure in areas unviable for commercial operators. Financed rural telephone exchanges, village public telephones, and now broadband.
• DBN expansion: Also covers R&D funding for Indian companies developing telecom technology, moving beyond the USOF's purely infrastructure mandate.

Static linkage: Telecommunications policy (Governance/S&T), rural connectivity.

• Denisovans: A new Denisovan individual was identified from 2,500-plus bone fragments in the Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau. The specimen is dated to 48,000 to 32,000 years ago. Denisovans co-existed with Neanderthals and modern humans. They interbred with both. Modern humans of South and Southeast Asian descent carry about 3 to 5 per cent Denisovan DNA.
• Project PARI: Ministry of Culture and Lalit Kala Akademi launched Public Art of India, a mural project for the 46th World Heritage Committee meeting in New Delhi. Themes include traditional art forms, Natyashastra concepts, and tribal motifs.
• Responsible Quantum Technologies: Industry leaders including IBM called for ethical guidelines as quantum computing development accelerates. Quantum computers can theoretically break current encryption standards. The UN declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.